


Thermodynamic, nonclassical and statistical

by carrionofmywaywardson



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Pre-Slash, good ending, peaceful ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 17:04:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15514464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carrionofmywaywardson/pseuds/carrionofmywaywardson
Summary: Reed hates machines. The feeling’s mutual.





	Thermodynamic, nonclassical and statistical

**Author's Note:**

> Translated from Polish by the wonderful Crimson-Vipera, go give her lots of love [here](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crimson_Vipera) or on [tumblr](http://crimson-vipera.tumblr.com/)! 
> 
> (Original [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15415665))
> 
> Title inspired by a story by Stanisław Lem from his "The Cyberiad". The words apply to a certain cybernetic entity called Demon of the Second Kind, capable of extracting accurate information from the random motion of gas particles. I thought it accurate. And I also love Lem and there needs to be a reference to him in a fic about robots!

Right from the start, the day was as shitty as possible.

The alarm ripped Reed out from pleasant slumber at four a.m., which was a pure bastard move on its part, seeing how Reed set it to six. Outside his window, something has already started to happily chirp in an irritatingly irregular rhythm: twit-twit, pause, _twiiiit-twit_ , twit, long pause, **TWIIIIIIIIIT** , as if the fucking feathered yob was trying to use in Morse code to express just how much of a shit he didn’t give about Reed. After a few minutes of cursing into his pillow, Reed admitted defeat, dragged himself out of bed and, still cursing, went to take a leak. He kicked the snoozing roomba into action – if he couldn’t sleep, no one could. The roomba squeaked mechanically and slowly started on its prescribed route.

The bathroom mirror showed Reed a face that definitely didn’t get enough beauty sleep. He made a few faces at it before showing it the middle finger and grabbing a toothbrush. Could as well start the workday, since actually sleeping till six wasn’t in the cards.

About half way through his routine, the toothbrush whirred louder and ripped out of Reed's hand, but not before giving him an electric kick in the teeth. “Bloody fucking shit, damn it,” swore the detective, spraying the mirror with toothpaste. Reed ripped the cable out of the socket and gave the toothbrush a suspicious look, massaging his still stinging jaw with his hand.

The scruff on his cheeks has blown past the sandpaper phase and was inexorably edging into the wire brush stage. For a moment, Reed contemplated the option of never shaving again – after all, it’s always one more thing to distinguish him from Elijah – but finally decided against it. The last thing he needed was for Anderson to get it into his head that Reed was trying to imitate him. One grizzly churl at the precinct was enough.

The possibility returned with force when his razor’s blade smoothly shaved his stubble along with a chunk of his chin. “Fucking cunt!” Reed howled. He hurled the buzzing shaver in the bath tub, where it spun, scratching up the enamel and spattering bloody shaving cream around. Reed turned the water on and looked on with vengeful satisfaction as a cloud of bubbles made by the still working engine shrunk slowly. Finally, it fell silent, letting out the last, pathetic bubble. Reed left it in the water and exited the crime scene in a mood unworthy of a protector of the law and order.

His good humour didn’t last long when, on his way back to the bedroom, Reed almost broke his neck tripping on the roomba frozen in the middle of the room. The single, eye-shaped sensor on the hoover’s outer shell shined a menacing red. Reed raised his leg for another kick when the thing wheezed and came back to life causing him to lose his balance and crash to the floor with a loud bang. The roomba nudged his knee a few times before squeaking impatiently and slowly going around him to continue gobbling up dust.

Reed remained sprawled on the floor, staring dumbly at the ceiling. He only got up when the roomba returned and started bunting up against his head.

Not willing to try turning on the coffee maker, he made do with hand squeezed orange juice. He swallowed a handful of cinnamon cereal, washed it down with milk straight from the carton and left the apartment pulling on a faded leather jacket.

He didn’t even make it into his car when his phone in his pocket started blaring out a classic tune. He didn’t remember setting YMCA as anyone’s ringtone.

“What,” he growled into the receiver.

“Corner of Buchanan and Bangor, Anderson and his robot are already there.” As always, Chen didn’t pay attention to matters as trivial as greetings or political correctness. It was one of the reasons he liked her. Only not at six in the morning and especially not before his first cup of joe.

“What is it?” repeated Reed.

“One dead, maybe two, I don’t have the newest report yet.”

“Anderson and his tin of screws can manage it on their own, I have my own work to do. Tell Fowler he can fu-”

“You’re on speaker, Reed. You’ve just told him yourself.”

“Fucking shi…”

Chen dropped the connection and Reed angrily lobbed the phone onto the back seat. He had an unpleasant feeling that black clouds started to gather over his prospective promotion.

Anderson and his know-it-all RK800 were in fact there. Lieutenant was interrogating the witnesses, occasionally glancing at the android analysing the crime scene. Whenever Connor raised a hand to his mouth, Anderson interrupted the interview to shout:

“A, a, a!”

„This is the fastest way of getting the results, Lieutenant,” sighed the android, a note of irritation in his voice. “I don’t understand why you’re so resistant to using the abilities I was equipped with specifically to assist in investigative work.”

“I’m resistant ‘cause you’re not the only one who’s going to have those samples on their tongue,” Anderson muttered back.

“Eww,” said Reed, when he got the meaning of lieutenant’s words. Hank swore and quickly marched off, cheeks rosy like a blushing bride.

“Good morning, detective Reed.” RK nodded his head and smiled pleasantly. Was it just Reeds imagination or were the android’s cheeks slightly more blue than normal? “Did you know that half of your face is unshaven? Stress level…”

“Go fuck yourself,” greeted Reed. “What do we have here?”

Focussing on the investigation proved to be almost impossible when in the company of two co-workers mooning over each other, but they’ve dealt with it surprisingly fast anyway, mostly because RK managed to analyse the evidence whenever Anderson wasn’t looking. Reed had to admit, however reluctantly, that working with an android detective had its advantages. In just a few dozen minutes they found a motive, evidence and the most likely perp – not a bad start of the day.

A wave of suspicion swept over Reed when the RK thanked him for assistance and informed him that he and Anderson will deal with the arrest. His suspicions grew even stronger when the android and lieutenant exchanged quick glances. What the hell did Fowler send him here for? Two policemen was more than enough for one investigation, at least until complications appeared. This case was rather obvious and definitely didn’t require Reed’s involvement.

The detective went back to his car silently – well, except for a quietly mumbled “fuck!”. Anderson’s parting grin was extremely foreboding.

The colleagues he passed on his way past the front desk gave him similar smiles. Reed’s mood got worse by the minute. He didn’t even manage to reach his desk when a shout came from the captain’s office:

“IN HERE, REED.”

Growling out curses under his breath and sending longing looks at the coffee machine, Reed turned right and climbed the steps to Fowler’s office.

Fowler sent him a disdainful glance over a pile of documents. The captain did that for everyone, though, so Reed didn’t take it personally.

“I’m assigning you a partner,” he stated bluntly. “You’ve been working solo for too long now.”

“I work better alone.” They both knew that the reason Reed didn’t have a partner was that most other policemen hated his guts. A major part of his disciplinary record was filed by his ex partners. Complaints from witnesses and suspects who didn’t like the way he interrogated them provided an almost as impressive stack of papers. Reed didn’t give a fuck. He was yet to fail to solve a case. And if he owed it to a few broken noses? Better that than taking bribes.

“I don’t care, Reed. Safety protocols require you to have a partner. As does plain old common sense, which you seem to lack, so you’ll have to rely on mine. Finding you a partner in this precinct was impossible. You know well why.” Reed just quirked an eyebrow. “I had to get creative,” Fowler continued with a disconcerting note of satisfaction in his voice. “Luckily, the bloody little crooks from CyberLife discovered a newfound need to repent and came to my rescue.”

“No,” Reed groaned softly.

“Yes. They’ve sent him to take his tests and fill in the paperwork this morning. We’ve just finished the briefing. He’s an upgraded RK model, faster, stronger and more resilient than the previous one. Interestingly, he’s immune to deviation, for some reason. I’m sure CyberLife had some nasty plans for him but got thwarted by senate’s decision. Whatever it was, they’ve offered him up to help us and I’ve accepted.” Fowler leaned back in his chair and observed the fuming detective with evident relish. “It’s an emotionless machine, so he’s going to be a perfect partner for you, Reed. The world is changing. Adapt. It’s an order. And shave, for fuck’s sake. This is a government facility, not a circus.”

“But…”

“Out,” interrupted Fowler and went back to his paperwork.

Reed bit down on a curse and left the office. He’d give a lot for the ability to chip bulletproof glass door with a slam.

He could already see the android waiting at his desk, straight and stiff exactly like what it was – a dick. The main thing differentiating it from Connor was the uniform – dark jeans with a black and white jacket topped off with an idiotic stand up collar, bringing to mind uniforms from the Ilsa the SS bitch movies. The android turned at the sound of his footsteps and Reed ground his teeth together seeing the familiar, infuriatingly polite face.

“Good morning, detective Reed.  I am RK900, serial number 313 248 317-87 and I’ve been assigned to be your partner.”

“Fucking fantastic,” muttered Reed. Up close, he could see that the “upgraded model” was a good few inches taller than RK800, which made it almost a head taller than Reed. One more reason to dislike it, as if he needed more. Reed dropped heavily into his chair. RK900 remained standing. “Are you going to just hover like a moron?” the detective finally snarled. “Better bring me…”

”Your coffee, detective Reed,” interrupted the android and in that moment a plastic cup of steaming coffee was set in front of Reed.

“What the fuck… Where’d you get that from?”

“From the vending machine, when you were talking with the captain. I wanted the best possible start to our partnership.”

“Suck up,” mumbled Reed but he reached for the cup.

 He didn’t have the time to pick it up before his wrist was seized in a powerful hold of pale fingers.

“What the…”

RK900 was bending over him slightly, looking at him with cool, blue eyes – another detail distinguishing it from Connor. The worst thing was that the android’s face remained unchanged – RK still had its slight smile on and its voice was kind, friendly even.

“Detective Reed,” said the smiling android, “cooperation goes best when partners treat each other with respect. I brought you coffee to gain yours. What will you do to get mine?”

Reed felt sweat prickling down his back. Didn’t Fowler say that this one couldn’t deviate? Was this behaviour compliant with its programming? What the hell… Icy eyes seemed to hypnotise him and Reed didn’t want to look at them anymore, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t rip his hand out of the vice-like grip.

RK900 raised an expectant brow. Mortified, Reed realised that most of his blood has just relocated south. What. The. Hell.

“Thanks for the coffee,” he seethed.

The android smiled brighter and let him go.

“No problem, detective Reed. I predict that our collaboration will proceed exemplarily and will provide us both with many unforgettable experiences.” RK900 sat at the neighbouring desk and started looking through reports.

Reed picked up the cup and took his first sip of coffee that day.

It was irritatingly perfect.

 


End file.
